New Orleans and the World Horror Convention

In about two weeks I'm heading to New Orleans for The Bram Stoker Awards Weekend 2013 incorporating the World Horror Convention. This will be my second trip to NOLA and I'll be arriving early to do some sightseeing. Last time I ate and drank as much as I could in three days. This time I've made arrangements to ride on an airboat in a swamp, take a historical tour of a plantation, and go on a ghost tour around the French Quarter.

I'm treating this trip as my consolation prize for not getting into the workshop I wanted to get into this summer. Should I admit that in public? Eh. I'm human.

And then there's the convention. I've been looking forward to this con since I heard about the guest lineup and location last year. The fact that I'll be sharing a room with my writer friend Eliza is just gravy.

The other thing I'm excited about--besides the panels and the workshops and the people--is that the anthology Dark Tales of Lost Civilizations (includes my story "British Guiana, 1853") has been nominated for a Bram Stoker Award, and the winner will be announced at the banquet. I'll be at the banquet to root on the editor and see what happens.

If this con is anything like last year's World Horror Convention, I know I'm going to have a great time. Except for possibly the humidity.

The one where I finally post a link to my third-place winning story

I mentioned this was coming, but never posted after it went. On April 15th, my third-place story "Before the Fireworks" was published at Flash Fiction Chronicles along with an interview.

Read "Before the Fireworks" now...

The whole experience was a huge honor. Previously my story "Pompeii is for Lovers" made their Honorable Mention list, so I'm thrilled to have placed this time. As an aside, this is the second interview I've done and I want to plug the first one real quick--it was for the blog of my writer friend, Dale Ivan Smith. You should check out his site and his work.

Lots of little non-writerly things going on besides. I've been cleaning up the garden--weeding, buying new plants, mowing the lawn. I planted a couple of Brandywine tomato plants I grew from seed. The indoor Meyer lemon tree is doing well. I sprayed it with some kind of organic eco-friendly insect deterrent thing yesterday. Gave it some plant food. It's been thriving in the window.

Last week I took a day trip out to Flower World with Cat Rambo. I picked up some clay pots and seeds, a heliotrope (sounds like a steampunk cliche), sweet basil, and dill. It was my first trip out to Maltby, WA, and Flower World was amazing. In addition to numerous greenhouses for browsing, they boast a pond by a lawn with chickens and a water wheel. Gorgeous grounds!

As for writerly things, I currently have more stories out at once than I've ever had before. I think I'm up to 12, which is really good for me. The longest submission has been out for 109 days and the shortest has been out for 3, so I'm chugging along on the submissions front. Submissions, of course, don't mean acceptances, but I'm choosing to focus on the things I can control. My brain, she is full of the tricks.

I've also been recording lots of podcasts that will be posted over the coming weeks. You can see a list of the current Every Day Fiction Podcasts here.

The next big thing I'm attending is the Bram Stoker Awards Weekend with World Horror Convention in New Orleans mid-June. I'm getting excited about that, partly because of the location, partly because all of the cool people I met at last year's WHC and KillerCon, but also because Eliza Hirsch will be reprising her role as my roommate.

All of these factors are ingredients for a successful convention.

As for reading, I've been working my way through a collection of Ray Bradbury short stories, and trying to catch up reading all of the fiction magazines I subscribe to. I am hopelessly behind.

Now you know everything.

Or do you?